The Sims (2)

Yesterday, for lack of anything else (except homework) to do, I decided to play the Sims. I installed the Seasons expansion pack and haven't been able to use it as much as I'd like yet so I made great use of it. I made a Sim with Knowledge aspiration so that all her Wants would be easy to fulfil and went to town. I gave everything a Country theme except one room, which was a Tiki room. She has a gerbil and a green house and a pond to fish in. And I sat there and played for at least eight hours. I am not even kidding.

The Sim that I started yesterday is now at the top of the Culinary career track as a Celebrity Chef. She has lots of funny outfits that she can wear to work, when she goes to work, three days a week making over 2,000 Simoleons a day. She has a gold gardening badge, which means she can talk to her plants to make them thrive, and a silver fishing badge, which means she can catch more kinds of fish. Her cooking and creativity skill points are maxxed out and her body points are nearl there. She has seven friends, who are all also best friends, and one love interest (though they have no chemistry... ??)

And now I am addicted to The Sims. And why? It's kind of sad that I sit in front of the computers for hours, only to control a simulated person's simulated life. But, let's face it.. Sim lives are so much better than our own. My Sim makes $2000 a day but her bills are ony $100. She has a maid who charges $20 a day (basically, because my Sim is consistently non-slob-ish) and I can just cheat to get my Sim anything she (or I...) want. Everything is easy and black and white as a Sim. There aren't social cliques or sexist bosses to keep you from the top of your career track or any of the other things that make our lives horribly complicated.

Despite the fact that the makers of The Sims are trying to make the game as real as possible, with chemistry factors between acquaintances and lots of customizable factors and traits, it gets farther and farther away from reality and farther into how harmoniously we wish we could really live.